MURDERED DEALER IGNORED VIGILANTE WARNING

MURDERED heroin dealer Kevin Fennell had recently ignored a sinister
warning from vigilantes to stop trafficking on the streets. Mr Fennell (23)
was hit in the chest by two shotgun blasts as he lay on a couch in his
partner's house at Drumcairn Park in Tallaght last Tuesday morning.

Gardai last night were investigating fears that he may have become the
latest victim of so-called republican anti-drug vigilantes who have taken
action against dealers in the past in south Dublin.

Detectives have established that subversives from either the Provisional
IRA or the breakaway republican group, the INLA, who are both active in the
Tallaght area, recently issued a warning to Mr Fennell to stop dealing in
drugs.

Garda sources said last night the investigation team were now examining if
there had been a link between the warning and the murder.

But investigators stressed they had not ruled out the possibility that he
could have been the victim of a gangland shooting ordered by a rival dealer
who believed Mr Fennell had moved into his ``territory'' or because he owed
a debt over deals.

Detectives are also examining whether there are any similarities between
the Fennell murder and the shooting of another minor drug dealer, Tom
O'Reilly, in the car park of Premier Dairies in Rathfarnham last March.

Mr Reilly was believed at the time to have been the victim of a gangland
feud over drug money but gardai also checked out the theory of vigilante
involvement.

Members of the two republican groups have been very active in anti-drug
vigilante action in south Dublin in the past few years and associates have
also been linked to the attempted murder in March of Alan Byrne who was
shot at a bus stop in the south inner city shortly before he was due to
give evidence in a murder trial.

Chief Supt Noel Smith said his team were receiving excellent co-operation
from the public and had made satisfactory progress in inquiries to date.